Cheiron Egypt Delta Ltd, a subsidiary of Egypt-based exploration and production company Cheiron, has received a $75-million loan from four Egyptian banks to fund a project to develop an offshore gas field in the Mediterranean Sea.

Banque du Caire arranged the syndicated medium-term loan facility with Al Baraka Bank Egypt, Arab International Bank (AIB) and Société Arabe Internationale de Banque (SAIB).

The dual currency facility comprises of US dollar tranche of $30 million and an Egyptian pound tranche of EGP 2.2 billion.

An Arabic language press statement issued by Al Baraka Bank on Friday said that its contribution to the facility was $20 million, adding that Cheiron would use the loan to “fund part of the project to develop West El Brullus gas field in the Mediterranean.” 

It said the loan would finance 45.5 percent of the total project cost of around $165 million.

Banque du Caire served as the Initial Mandated Lead Arranger, Agent, Security Agent, Account Bank and Book Runner. Al Baraka Bank Egypt, AIB and SAIB acted as Mandated Lead Arrangers (MLA). Baker McKenzie provided legal counsel while Environment & Development Group was the environmental consultant.

Cheiron had obtained the concession for the West El Burullus (WEB) offshore gas field development from the Egyptian government in January 2023.

Its CEO Allan Linn said the loan would provide the Company with the necessary liquidity to pursue the project and boost Egypt’s gas production.

He said the funds would allow the firm to start gas production from the field to face growing demand in the domestic market and reduce gas imports.

“The project includes several phases, starting with exploration then production and exporting…the project includes drilling of new wells, construction of production platforms and building pipelines to link the field with processing plants,” he added.

Cheiron is Egypt’s third largest oil and gas producer and has more than 25 concessions inside Egypt with total production of more than 130,000 barrels per day (bpd).

(Writing by Nadim Kawach; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)

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